Past, Present, Future
by Zarelyn
Summary: In the years since Cocoon's fall, life has finally begun to return to normal...until two downright weird teenagers turn up, bringing their own troubles along with them. LightningxHope
1. Chapter 1

**Hey all! This is my first FFXIII fanfic, so please go easy on me if the characters are a little OOC for the first bit - at the moment, I'm just trying to get a feel for how they act as written characters. Also, since I currently have two story ideas (gah!), I'll be going back and forth between this story, and Negative, another FFXIII LightningxHope story. Please review - helpful critique is welcome! - and I hope you enjoy this fanfic! :)**

**Also, while I would like to think that I am an insanely gifted writer and never make mistakes (MUAHAHAHAHA!), I'm only human, and I haven't written fiction in quite a while, so if anyone wants to beta this story, just PM me!**

**Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN FFXIII. Sadness. :(**

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Lightning heard a commotion nearby and stood, a frown tugging at her lips. True, they were on Gran Pulse, land of monsters and horrors beyond your wildest imaginations, formerly referred to as "hell" by the unknowing citizens of Cocoon, but they were within the city limits of New Bodhum – for any monsters to come within sight of the relatively new civilized area was passing rare. Hope caught the look on her face, taking a sip of his sweetened tea and asked, "What's wrong?"

His answer came in the form of a spontaneous lightning storm, just visible between the buildings from the café where they sat, and his own curiosity was caught as he followed Lightning towards the disturbance. Maneuvering their way through the people who crowded the streets, they made their way to the city limits, seeing another flash of lightning coming from the hills that surrounded the valley in which New Bodhum was nestled. Breaking into a full-out run now that there were no more citizens in their way, they narrowed the distance between them and the odd lightning strikes in little time.

Coming around a hill, both were surprised by the scene before them: three strange creatures, resembling winged Cie'th, were attacking a pair of teenagers. Even as Lightning and Hope moved forward though, drawing their respective weapons to help the pair, the final Cie'th-like creature was defeated, its form dissolving into dust before it reached the ground.

In the suddenly silent aftermath, the pair took a moment to take stock of their injuries as Lightning and Hope made their way forward, for the moment unnoticed. "How's the arm?" the taller of the two teens leaned over next to the younger, long fingers poking and prodding said limb before the healing blue light of a cure appeared, only to vanish as it soaked into the wounded limb.

"Better," the younger said, a note of relief in the feminine tone. "But why -"

Whatever she had been about to say was cut off as the pair caught sight of Lightning and Hope, a mixture of expressions running across their faces. The taller, older one – who Lightning and Hope could now see was a boy, despite the shock of pale pink hair that seemed to stick up in every direction – had at first shifted in front of the younger, his green eyes narrowing at the perceived threat before widening in shock. The younger, a girl only inches shorter than the boy, stepped out from behind her protection and moved forward, holding out a hand to the silent Lightning.

"Hello!" she said cheerfully, a bright smile on her face, her deep teal eyes open and friendly. "I'm Elpis, and this is my older brother, Jakuta. Nice to meet you!"

Her ready cheer broke the stillness that had settled over the quartet, and when Lightning made no move to respond, Hope stepped forward instead, accepting the girl's handshake with a smile of his own. "Nice to meet you, Elpis. I'm Hope, and this," he gestured vaguely to the woman beside him, "is Lightning."

"Isn't Hope a girl's name?" the boy, Jakuta, snorted.

Hope opened his mouth to retort, feeling his cheeks flush, but Elpis was already turned around, her brow furrowed though her tone was light. "And aren't boys supposed to _not_ have pink hair?" she teased her brother, dispelling the tension and redirecting the attention away from her brother and onto herself. "Please, ignore my brother – he can be a real jerk sometimes, but he's really a nice person somewhere inside that ball of bitchiness and standoffishness."

Hope grinned at her, a secretive sort of look in his eyes. "Don't tell anyone I told you this, but it sounds like someone else I know," he said in a mock-whisper, leaning forward conspiratorially and shooting glances at Lightning, who just "hmph"ed and turned away, her arms crossed.

"Really?" Elpis's eyes widened, and she clapped her hands over her mouth as if that could keep the silent Lightning from hearing her. Lightning glared at Hope – why was he being so friendly to a strange pair of kids? – but he only winked back at her, continuing to converse with the cheerful girl.

Instead of trying to listen to their conversation, she turned her gaze to the boy, whose green eyes darted back and forth between Hope and his sister. He seemed ill at ease but was attempting to hide it, his posture stiff and arms crossed over his chest, one finger tapping as he did a survey of their surroundings. Finally, he broke into the rapid conversation between his sister and Hope.

"Sis, the sun's starting to set. We need to get moving." He spoke succinctly, as if reporting to a senior officer, but his gaze was gentle as Elpis turned to him and nodded.

Elpis turned back to Hope, throwing her arms around his torso in a hug. "I liked meeting you, Mr. Hope, Ms. Lightning!" she said, sounding like a child of six despite her teenage appearance. "Ciao!" And she turned and ran off, her brother not far behind her.

Lightning gazed after them a while, feeling Hope's gaze on her. Finally, she turned to him. "What?" she asked bluntly.

"…Nothing," Hope shook his head. "We should get going, too – we did promise Serah and Snow to help with the preparations…" Lightning groaned at this, turning and stalking back towards the city limits of New Bodhum.

* * *

"And so it begins…"

A sigh.

"But how did _they_ get here? They should not have existed- - -"

"We'll just have to figure it out. For now, let's just make sure there's no more in this area – we can't afford to have them running loose."

A nod. "Let's go."

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**So there it is! Going for a little suspense - I absolutely love writing cliff hangers - but I won't pretend that it's impossible to guess who's who.**

**Also, the current title is definitely not set-in-stone, so I'm more than open to suggestions! At the moment, I have a vague idea of where the story is going, but ideas are always welcome :)**

**Please review! Not to beg or anything, but reviews tend to make me update faster, if only because I know there are people waiting for more :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everyone! Back for more? :)**

**As far as updates go, I'll aim for every other day or two - maybe faster, if inspiration strikes and I simply cannot restrain myself from writing...but I can promise that I'll update once a week at the latest (I am a student, after all - homework must come first!). Also, I'll probably be updating this story a little slower than Negative, if only because at the moment I have a b'gillion ideas for that story...but do not despair! I had a lightbulb for this story the other day, and updates will continue to flow, they just might be delayed a bit. :)**

**I'll be responding to anonymous reviews at the end of the chapter. To all my reviewers, once again, THANK YOU! :D You make my day happy.**

**The usual disclaimer...I don't own FFXIII, much to my own personal despair, but I do own the plot and any OC's that might show up!**

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"Claire!" Serah exclaimed, setting down the floral arrangement she had been examining and running to embrace her sister, who returned the hug, if a little less enthusiastically.

"It's about time you got here, sis," Snow teased, following his fiancée at a slower pace. "Looking good, Hope – have you gotten taller?" Snow leaned over, narrowing his eyes as if peering through a microscope at the younger boy.

"I'm not _that_ short," Hope mumbled under his breath, crossing his arms in annoyance, but Snow only ruffled his hair good-naturedly.

"Oh, don't worry about it," the tall, broad-shouldered, thickly-muscled man reassured him with an easy grin. "Some kids grow slower, that's all. Maybe you're just a late bloomer?"

Hope rolled his eyes at this, brushing Snow's hand away, and was about to retort when Lightning spoke up.

"He's taller than Serah," the soldier said, releasing her sister and turning to Snow. "Not everyone's a giant like you, idiot."

"Yeah, well…" Snow laughed, staring down at them all from his giant's height.

Serah studied them quietly for a moment, then began to laugh. "Actually, Claire, I think Hope's taller than _you_ now!"

Lightning looked at her bemusedly, her expression clearly stating "as if", while Hope looked over at Lightning, blinking quickly before grinning. Lightning turned to him, about to warn him not to get his hopes up, but stopped when she was forced to face the unwanted truth that she did indeed have to look _up_ to meet his eyes – if only slightly.

Before anyone could begin to tease her about the fact that her one-time student was now taller than his teacher, Lightning decided to choose the lesser of the two evils. "So how is the planning coming along?" she asked her sister, knowing there was just one thing that could distract Serah from any line of questioning.

Just as expected, Serah's eyes grew wide and she began beaming. "It's going perfectly!" she chirped, clasping her hands together in a display of excitement. "We were just about to decide what floral arrangements we want on the tables, but there are so many choices, and I want it to be _perfect_." A momentary frown tugged down her cheerful smile, but it quickly vanished as she continued. "And we've reserved the ballroom in the Bodhum Beach Hotel for the reception – they'll even get everything all set up for us, we just need to have the caterers and florists deliver everything!"

As she continued to chatter at her sister, dragging the unwilling Lightning towards the flowers she had been inspecting for her opinion, Snow turned to Hope and grinned.

"So, you're taller than sis now," he said, his tone speaking volumes.

Hope ignored the insinuation, simply responding, "It had to happen eventually." He watched as Serah pointed out two arrangements to Lightning, feeling a smile tug at his lips at the pained expression on Light's face – flowers were not her thing. He saw Snow grinning at him out of the corner of his eye, and rolled his eyes with an exasperated sigh. "What?"

"Oh, nothing," Snow said, assuming an innocent expression. "So how was your date with sis?"

"It was – _what?_" Hope caught himself just in time, feeling his cheeks flush as he looked at Snow with an expression somewhere between disbelief and horror. "It wasn't a _date_," he insisted, his voice rising, and he fought to keep himself from shouting. "We were just meeting up for drinks, you know, to catch up before heading over. We haven't seen each other much recently."

"Drinks?" Snow asked, with another of those grins that made Hope want to punch him – _Now I remember why Light has such a short fuse around him_.

"We were just getting coffee and tea at a café," Hope groaned. This conversation was taking a turn for the worse, and fast. "That's _it_. Well, mostly," he corrected himself, the strange teenagers popping into his mind.

Snow caught his change in tone and turned serious. "What happened?" he inquired, for once not being the dense idiot Lightning not-so-fondly called him.

Hope explained what they had seen: the winged Cie'th-like creatures, the pair of teenagers with their weird hair, the magic they had used. As he finished, he felt a thought tugging at the back of his mind, like a half-remembered memory, but when it refused to come forward he brushed it aside, instead watching Snow's reaction.

It was exactly what he had expected: surprise, confusion, worry. The fact that it was exactly what he had expected bothered Hope for a moment, but he reminded himself that it was Snow he was talking to, not Lightning. Snow was entirely predictable.

"Cie'th near Bodhum…silver- and pink-haired kids…and magic?" Snow muttered, raising one hand to scratch at the scruff on his chin. "That doesn't sound right."

"Doesn't sound right?" Hope repeated, feeling exasperated again. Snow looked startled – apparently he hadn't realized he was talking aloud – but it faded when Hope continued. "Of course it isn't right. It's been four years since Cocoon fell, and in that time all the Cie'th near here should have been wiped out. And magic? Only l'Cie can use magic, and our brands are gone. Only fal'Cie can make l'Cie, and all the fal'Cie are trapped in Cocoon, living or dead."

"Maybe they're from the past!" Snow exclaimed, looking as if he had just discovered the secret to life. "Maybe they're l'Cie who were crystallized after completing their Focus, and only just woke up – ow…"

Hope had punched Snow's shoulder before the man could get too off track. "Even if they were crystallized, all the other l'Cie we've seen who have woken up don't have their brands, either."

"Right…" Snow frowned, rubbing the shoulder Hope had punched. He opened his mouth, probably to make another stupid comment, but was interrupted when Serah called them over to help decide which arrangement to use – true to form, Lightning had been no help at all.

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**So? How was it? Good :D? Bad :(? Confusing O_x? Weird 8.8? ...Ok, I ran out of smilies.**

**Hope (haha) you enjoyed it!**

**iheartsnow: Wow, thanks for reviewing both stories - thanks for the support! And yeah, I understand - I just feel like the current title doesn't quite fit the story, and it bugs me O_x Don't worry, I'll try to fix that soonish...or just live with it. Thanks again for your reviews! :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys, sorry this is late! Trying to write two stories at once just isn't working out, unsurprisingly, and Negative has so much I want to write about right now...while I honestly am having a hard time summoning the inspiration for this story. Also, not to play favorites, Negative has soo many more people reading it - and you'd be surprised how motivating a huge reader-base can be! I won't abandon this story, but updates are going to be slow...sorry!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own FFXIII**

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As Hope and Snow came over, called by Serah for help – _honestly, Serah should know by now that I have no artistic taste whatsoever_ – Lightning caught the disturbed expressions that graced both their faces. As Snow helped Serah, Lightning pulled Hope aside.

Hope sighed, knowing just from her expression what she wanted. "I told him about those two we saw earlier – Elpis and Jakuta. Snow being Snow, he wasn't much help – some crazy theory about how they were l'Cie who had just woken from crystal stasis – but I get the feeling we're missing something. Something important." He sighed, running his hand through his hair, making a tuft stand out from the rest awkwardly.

"I know what you mean," Lightning responded, crossing her arms and leaning on one foot. "And I don't like it. Those Cie'th weren't normal, and it's been years since they were last spotted. Something's not right."

"That's pretty much what Snow said," Hope sounded aggravated. "But -"

"Claire, Hope, I need your opinion on these two," Serah interrupted, beckoning them over impatiently.

Hope and Lightning shared a glance – somewhere between 'we should have run when we had the chance' and 'she's _your_ sister' – but came over obediently.

"Which do you like better?" Serah asked, pointing at the two arrangements that were giving her so much trouble. The one on the left was simple, consisting of two roses, one a pale pink and the other pure white, and surrounded by sprigs of a leafy plant with tiny white flowers that Lightning didn't recognize. On the right was a more complex arrangement, with a variety of flowers – again in pale pink and white – though the colors on some made it clear that dye had been added to their water to achieve the desired hue of pink.

Hope pointed to the one on the left rather quickly, surprising Lightning, but Serah took it in stride. "Really? Perfect! See, I told you Snow," she scolded her fiancée, who had apparently chosen the complex right arrangement. Lightning rolled her eyes at their bickering, instead turning a curious eye on Hope.

"And what makes you so sure that the left one is better?" she asked, keeping her voice down to keep from attracting her sister's attention.

Hope flushed, avoiding her gaze. "W-well, it looks better," he said defensively, then grew a backbone and turned to her. "Besides, relationships don't have to be all flashy and complex. Size isn't that important."

Lightning raised one eyebrow, and Hope rolled his eyes. "Okay, well, it is, but not that important – right?" His last word was a quiet plea for reassurance, and Lightning took pity on him.

"Not always," she agreed, and wondered why he started blushing again.

"Well, now that that is settled…" Serah's voice called them back to the topic at hand. She called the florist over, pointing at their final choice and placing their order, giving them the address the flowers would need to be delivered to. "And make sure they're on time, please," she added, giving the florist a small smile and receiving a quick reassurance in turn.

"Perfect." Serah turned and left, the others following in her wake like a queen and her entourage.

"It's getting dark," Lightning commented, knowing it sounded stupid – but she had to report for work the next morning, and tonight was not going to be a party night.

"Hope, where are you staying?" Serah inquired, adding, "we have a free room if you need it."

"Thanks, but my stuff's already at Light's place," Hope replied. "Besides, I don't know if I could get any sleep in your house…" His senses were assaulted as Snow started laughing boisterously and Light punched his shoulder.

"Don't even remind me," the solder grated out. "Why do you think I moved out in the first place?"

"Well, why don't you two come over for dinner?" Serah pressed onwards, ignoring her fiancée and sister.

"Yeah, it'll be better than sis's cooking," Snow added, earning him a punch from said 'sis'.

"I'm not your sis," Lightning grumbled. "And I'm getting better – it's not that bad."

As the two began squabbling, Serah turned to Hope, still waiting for an answer.

"Sure, sounds fine to me," the teen replied, not wanting to know how like Light Serah could be when denied her wishes. "Though, I think Light has work tomorrow, so she might not want to go out tonight…"

Serah just smiled. "It's nice that you're looking out for her," she said simply, as they both watched the pair ahead of them. "She really missed you, you know? She just isn't the same when it's just the three of us."

Hope could feel a blush creeping up on him, but was saved from responding as Serah caught the attention of her sister. "Just come over for dinner, okay Claire? That way you don't have to stress about cooking for two and can relax."

Hope caught the flicker of mixed emotions that darted across Light's face before she replied. "If that's what Hope wants to do."

And she turned her icy gaze on him, though he felt warmed by it where others would freeze and run. He nodded, and she shrugged. "Sounds like you're cooking, then."

Serah just smiled at this. "Then let's get going – you do remember where we live, don't you Claire?" she teased her older sister, who retorted that of _course_ she knew where they lived, considering how often she was invited over for dinner or lunch or breakfast or drinks or games or talking or…

Watching their conversation, Hope felt a part of him relax that hadn't in a long while. Sure, Palumpolum, where he lived with his dad, was home – but this was a kind of home, too, where he was surrounded by the people who had become as a second family to him, even if two of their members were missing, asleep in crystal far above Gran Pulse.

Momentarily, he wondered how they were doing – if they were asleep, if they dreamed, if those dreams were good…but he cut off that line of thought with a smile: this was Fang and Vanille he was thinking about. If they could hear how he was worrying about them, even after all these years, they'd laugh. He could hear their voices even now.

"_Don't worry about us, Hope! We'll be fine!"_

"_Yeah, and keep an eye out for soldier girl for us, will you?"_

For a moment, Hope felt disoriented; he felt the strongest urge to turn around, like Fang and Vanille were just behind him – but when he glanced over his shoulder, all he saw was the unfamiliar Bodhum cityscape as its citizens returned home for the night.

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**Hope you enjoyed chapter 3! I'll try to update again this weekend - keep an eye on your emails for the next update!**

**iheartsnow: Thanks for reviewing! Sorry this update was slower - Negative's been going so well, I had to focus on it and...well, yeah. But I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! Sorry it took so long for me to update - but here's the next chapter, a little longer as a bit of an apology.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own FFXIII :(**

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The next day dawned bright, sending a cascade of brilliant light through the uncovered window, across the mostly-tidy floor, up the side of the bed and finally across Hope's face. Groaning, he rolled over, burying his face between pillow and arm to block out the light that seemed so determined to wake him up. Content with his new position, he drifted off to sleep once more.

Light was downstairs, having woken before the sun rose – a habit ingrained in her after years of dawn patrols – and was pouring herself a cup of coffee when she heard a strangled yelp, followed by a thud and a stream of muffled cursing. Smiling to herself, she sipped her coffee, leaning against the counter as she watched the stairs.

Sure enough, Hope stumbled down them a few moments later in his pajamas – a t-shirt and flannel pants – his hair sticking up wildly despite his attempts to flatten it down into something resembling normalcy. "Morning," he grumbled, collapsing onto a chair and leaning his head on the table.

"Good morning," Light replied, pouring a second cup of coffee. In her peripheral vision she saw a small shadow dart down the stairs, and as she handed the cup to Hope and set a bowl of sugar on the table, the shadow twined around her ankles. She leaned over, picking up the small black kitten, earning an earful of purr. "Morning, Dark."

Hope snorted at that, dumping a few spoonfuls of sugar into his coffee before sipping gingerly at the hot liquid. Judging by what she had heard – and the dark glares Hope was now shooting at the kitten she held – the mischievous little cat had probably woke him up using the kitten's favorite method: a cold nose in the ear. "Blasted cat," Hope muttered, confirming her suspicions.

"I did warn you," Light reminded him, downing the last of her coffee. "I have to head off to work soon – will you be okay on your own for a while?" She set Dark down on the table, and the kitten padded over to Hope, nudging the hand that grasped his coffee.

"I'll be fine," Hope reassured her, momentarily glaring at the kitten before being overcome by its sheer cuteness and scratching its ears. "I figured I'll wander around town until Serah or Snow calls me, demanding help with planning the big day."

Light watched the boy-turned-man as he sipped his coffee, continuing to play with the kitten that had been the cause of his rude awakening, and debated her next words for only a moment. "I have an hour's break for lunch at noon. Why don't you pick up lunch somewhere and keep me company?"

Hope grinned up at her. "Sounds like a plan. I'll see if I can find something good during my wanderings."

Light smiled back, then set her empty cup by the sink and headed upstairs; she needed a shower before heading off to work, and putting on her uniform wouldn't hurt either.

* * *

She looked out over the obstacle course she was currently putting the new recruits through, making mental notes of every mistake to lecture them later. Ever since her promotion to lieutenant, taking Amodar's old place after he was promoted, her life had been full of paperwork and training – reading the reports of those Guardian Corps members on duty, and overseeing the training of new recruits. True, she could place herself on patrol duty whenever she wished – something she did quite often; she couldn't afford to get soft – but the majority of her time was occupied by paperwork, training, and more paperwork.

She glanced at the stopwatch in her hand, marking the time each recruit finished on a pad of paper – they were slow, these new recruits, soft from lives where their parents had provided for their every whim. But in the new Cocoon civilization on Gran Pulse, where they no longer had PSICOM or the fal'Cie to 'protect' them, the Guardian Corps were the only barrier between the vulnerable citizens and the violent monsters. As such, it had become an unspoken requirement of sorts for young men – and women – to join the Guardian Corps, to serve their stint and protect their friends and families.

Of course, that meant that many of the new recruits were not only unmotivated, but felt entitled to favorable treatment and undeserved favors - a delusion that Lightning would quickly relieve them of.

"Gather round!" she shouted, pitching her voice to carry across the course and drawing the tired recruits to her – they had been at this all morning, but the recruits grew weary far too easily. A tired recruit lost focus, and did not pay attention. Lack of attention meant fatalities in the field - and dead recruits did them no help. "Listen up, you lot. You're too slow – even the slowest of the full-time members can finish that course in a third of your time. Run two laps around the course, then you can take your lunch break." With that, she turned and left – they were scared enough of her to do as she said without question, and besides, there were older Guardian Corps members running laps to loosen up from hours sitting at a desk. They would have heard her orders, and would give the new recruits grief if they tried to skimp on their work.

She rolled her shoulders as she entered the Corps building; she had slept oddly last night and woke up to a sore back, something that standing around all morning had not helped. She opened the door to her new office – a 'gift' that came with her promotion – and paused on the threshold at the sight of a familiar silver-haired boy sitting in her chair, leaning back and tossing a pen up in the air, catching it, tossing it up once more. A paper bag sat on the desk, the top rolled down, with two to-go cups beside it; from the smell wafting towards her, coffee.

"How was work?" Hope asked by way of greeting, standing up and setting the pen he had been toying with back in its proper place. "Sorry about invading your office – the guards out front said you had a habit of running late with training and sent me here out of pity." His tone sounded amused, and he sat on a clear space on her desk as she took her usual seat.

"I do," she told him, sending him a look that showed how serious she was. "The new recruits are a bunch of softies; they wouldn't last five seconds in the field. The only way they'll ever toughen up is if they train seriously, and that means working constantly."

"You know half of them will drop out if you harass them too much," Hope scolded her, opening the bag to hand her a square container. "I found an interesting noodle restaurant nearby; they claim that their recipes are entirely Pulsian in origins, but we'll see." Another square container followed, then two forks, one of which he handed to her. Without ceremony, he popped open his noodle box, taking a bite.

She had to admit; she was amused by how at ease he was acting. She couldn't get the image of him at fourteen out of her mind, how shy he had been, stuttering and driven only by his hatred of Snow. Deciding to let it slide, she opened her own box, looking curiously at the glistening brown noodles with soft vegetables mixed in, and took a hesitant bite.

"Good, isn't it?" Hope asked, catching the flicker of surprise that passed over her face.

"It isn't bad," was her response. She took another bite, chewing and swallowing before responding to his previous statement. "Half of them will drop out either way – they only joined because after Cocoon fell, being part of the Guardian Corps was the new big thing, being the 'heroes' that defend us from the 'horrors' of Pulse."

Hope shrugged; he didn't seem entirely satisfied with her answer, but neither did he seem driven to continue that line of questioning. "So, to repeat my earlier question: how was work?"

"Can't you guess?" she said dryly, reaching for one of the cups and taking a long drink. "I've been training those fools all morning." She set down the cup and rolled her shoulder, hoping to relieve some of the tension.

"Here, let me -"Hope set down his food and stood, moving behind her chair and resting his hands on her shoulders before she could protest. As he pressed his thumbs into the muscles along her spine, hard enough to feel but not so hard that it hurt, she felt a funny tingling feeling sweep across her back – an odd, familiar warmth, but why it seemed so familiar danced just out of reach. As he continued to massage her shoulders, the tingling intensified, and the tension drained away. Finally, she pulled away; having another person so close to her, without her explicit permission, was weird.

"Thanks," she said, not wanting to seem ungrateful; she really was thankful, the stiffness that had been irritating her all morning replaced by a relaxing warmth.

"No problem," Hope grinned, reclaiming his seat on her desk and picking up his food once more. "You looked a little stiff this morning, and dealing with idiot recruits is not the way to cure that."

They continued to eat their food in relative silence, with little bursts of conversation here and there, but it wasn't the uncomfortable strained silence of near-strangers, like when she ate in the cafeteria, but a companionable, easygoing silence, one that did not need to be filled with words, because there was something else there – though what it was, she did not know.

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**Hoped you like it! Again, I'm sorry it took so long to update...I'll try not to be so slow next time!**

**iheartsnow: Thanks! This chapter was longer - I hope you enjoy that - but I don't think this story will ever reach the chapter-length of Negative...it just doesn't have the same inspiration, and the shorter chapters work better with the flow of this story in my opinion...I'm glad you enjoy them both though!**


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